Pause for Consideration
by Moontan
Summary: It all starts when Seras and Alucard are on a mission. After clearing two vampires from a building, they make their way upstairs to silence the final target. (The author is winging this, and since only one chapter is written right now, it's hard to tell what is going to happen.) (As always, reviews are welcome, even if they are criticisms.)
1. Chapter 1

The door burst open and Alucard entered the room. While it was true he could simply phase through the wall, sometimes there was something satisfactory about crashing in a door. Seras walked in behind him, her own entrance quiet in the wake of her Master. Both of them saw a desk and behind it was a chair that was facing away from the door. It was shaking slightly and it wasn't hard to guess that the remaining target was seated there.

"You might as well show yourself; that chair isn't going to protect you," taunted Alucard. Slowly the chair turned around. If Alucard was expecting a mighty opponent, well, he was about to be disappointed. Sitting in the chair was, for all physical purposes, a young woman, probably a little younger than Seras herself. Her red eyes, however, was a dead giveaway that she was a vampire, so her true age was hard to discern by looks alone. However, the anxious look on her face seemed more in keeping with a young vampire. She certainly wasn't as old as Alucard; probably not even half as much.

Despite the similarity in their apparent ages, she was quite an opposite to Seras. Her hair was dark and long. The top of it was pulled back in a braided crown, while the rest hung down her back in soft waves. She wore a stark white, peasant style blouse and a pair of dark red jeans. Unlike his busty fledgling, this woman was quite slim. And she seemed to lack even the fire of the Police Girl.

"You've killed the others?" she asks, looking between Alucard and the other female vampire. Her voice wasn't angry or even frightened exactly. Certainly it sounded sorrowful and more than a little bit resigned. She briefly put a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. Alucard watched her for a few moments. "And you won't leave until you've killed me also?" she said. Whether this was a question or actually a statement was a bit hard to tell.

"That's the plan," Alucard said with a smirk, pulling out his standard gun. The woman's eyes grew a bit wider as she stared down the barrel of the gun; then she raised her eyes to look at Alucard's glasses. She sighed deeply but said nothing right away. Any moment now Alucard expected a speech. They always gave him speeches. It was a source of amusement while at the same time, a source of annoyance. The breed had fallen as of late, especially with the FREAK vampires on the loose.

"I suppose it wouldn't be any use asking you not to," the woman finally said, rising to her feet. She wasn't very tall and she certainly didn't appear as a threat. Alucard laughed in spite of himself. There was no posturing, no bragging, and no threats. There was simply the one statement with no aggressive body language. This really wasn't what he expected. He flicked a glance towards his fledgling who was openly staring at the other woman, curiosity written on her face.

"Don't you think that's a little bit pathetic?" he sneered, showing his fangs. The woman held up a hand as if it could ward him off.

"Not really," she said with a whimsical smile that didn't reach her eyes. "You've already killed the other two vampires downstairs, and that means you're stronger than them. That also means you're stronger than me, so even if I was to make a move, you could likely shoot me before I had a chance to even touch you." She looked at Seras again and nodded her head politely. "Besides, there's two of you and only one of me."

"How very interesting," Alucard mused, still sneering. "You show wisdom. Too bad it won't save you." Still, he didn't shoot, not yet. If he could get more amusement out of this encounter, then he would. So far the woman had shown no fighting initiative, or any hint that she was able to defend herself. Those he had found downstairs had the full quota of arrogance combined with stupidity. As far as he knew, she was the youngest of them all, a new addition to their family, so to speak.

"Can you at least tell me why it is so necessary?" she asked. "You and your companion are vampires, just as I am." She raised her eyebrows a little. "If there was something you wanted here, you would be welcome to it." Her arms spread outwards to indicate the house and its entire contents. "None of it really matters to me."

"I have my reasons," Alucard said flatly. In a mere blur of motion he moved from standing near the door to sitting on the desk right in front of the woman, his gun shoved under her chin, forcing it up so that she had little choice but to stare him in the face, or close her eyes. She winced at the contact but she didn't take her eyes from Alucard's face.

"I'm sure you do," the woman murmured softly. "But I doubt it's personal; I have never set my eyes on you or your companion. I've never harmed you."

"What's your name?" asked Seras, speaking for the first time since she entered the room with Alucard. Her Master shot her a look of annoyance.

"_Don't get soft, Police Girl_," Alucard growled directly to her mind. "_She's not one of your precious human beings_."

"_I know, Master, but she seems so different_," was Seras' somewhat plaintive reply.

"_Focus_." Realizing that Seras didn't have her heart in the attack, so to speak, Alucard pulled the trigger. He expected a spatter of blood to fly through the air, painting the walls behind his opponent red. Instead, there was nothing, not even the vampire woman. He heard a soft thud in the room below them; the woman had phased through the floor. Instead of being angry, he laughed softly.

"Well, well. We can rule out her being a FREAK," he said, tucking his gun away. "She's downstairs, Police Girl. This might be more interesting than I expected."

"Yes Master!" said Seras, quickly regaining her spunk as she followed Alucard out of the room. Clearly Alucard wasn't worried; if the matter was truly pressing he would have phased through the floor after their target, leaving Seras behind. Since he was letting Seras follow, she assumed he had things well in hand.

In truth, Alucard wanted just a few moments to think. The vampires he had fought first were much like the Priest in Cheddar. While they weren't FREAKS they also were a far cry from master vampires. None of them seemed to have any ability to phase or do more than raise ghouls and perform feats of speed and strength. He had thought she was just a scared child. Evidently, he had guessed wrong, and that was not good. Still, at least it kept things from being too boring. So many vampires had fallen to him, and almost all of them had been disappointments.

The pair of vampires, master and fledgling, searched back through the house, but their target was gone. This was also rather unusual as a lot of vampires they fought were highly territorial. Alucard lumped that in with the arrogance and stupidity. Of course, he had his full share of arrogance, but with one difference: he could back up his claims.


	2. Chapter 2

(**I make no pretense of owning Hellsing.**)

Diana stopped for a moment to take stock of the situation. She was alone, and that didn't sit well with her. While she had told the two intruders that nothing in the house meant anything to her, that wasn't completely true. Her coffin was inside and it was a very personal thing to her indeed. And it wasn't as though coffins were easy to come by; she couldn't simply walk into any furniture store and buy one. Of course, it also didn't help that she wasn't exactly wealthy. Unlike humans there were very few things she needed to obtain with money. As long as she had someplace relatively safe to keep her coffin, she was content.

Perhaps she could go back for it when the intruders were gone. With any luck they would leave her coffin alone, though she was sure that it was too much to hope for. Most likely they would keep an eye on it for her to return if they didn't outright destroy it. She sighed softly to herself. Leaning against a tree she folded her arms and closed her eyes, focusing on her senses of hearing and smell. They would alert her much sooner than sight would.

A crunch in the nearby grass alerted her, and she disappeared up the tree. Silently she watched as a tall man approached the house she had so recently vacated. Hiding up there, she was glad that she was among the undead; she could hold her breath for a long time and sit really still. This was just as well since she believed that this man would be no friendlier than the two who had entered her home, though his green eyes indicated he was human. However, if she had learned anything, it was that the overly religious people had no love for vampires, and this man wore his religion proudly on his chest in the form of a large cross. Add to this the priestly robes he wore and the grim determination on her face, and she decided she didn't want to cross him either.

Forcing herself to remain still, Diana watched as the man kept walking to the house. Moments later a shot was fired. From her perch, Diana saw a bullet punch a hole in the Priest's shoulder and she inhaled slightly as the smell of blood floated up from the wound.

"Well now, if it isn't Hellsing's pet vampire. And the pet of the pet," said the Priest, his words thickly accented with a brogue. Diana bemoaned her luck as the two intruders from earlier showed up: the tall vampire with the pistols and his blonde companion. Between the two sides, she wasn't sure which she would rather face. Maybe now was a good time to make a real escape. Yet she couldn't tear herself away from the conflict.

"Alexander Anderson," returned the red-garbed vampire, pulling out a second gun. "You're not who we were looking for, but you'll do." Diana noticed he sneered at the Priest also; at least it wasn't just her that this animosity was directed at.

"I'm happy to oblige any abomination in sending it to hell," replied the Priest, almost spitting his words. Suddenly his hands were full of gleaming blades. Diana winced; those looked like they would hurt. With a powerful motion he flung the blades towards the two vampires. The one in red phased out, avoiding damage, but the blonde didn't dodge quite fast enough, catching one of the blades in her shoulder with a short cry of pain.

"You'll have to do better than this, Priest!" taunted Alucard, reappearing a short distance away and firing off a shot from each of his guns. Both hit their mark, but the Priest was already in motion, moving towards Alucard with a swiftness that seemed at odds with his injuries.

Diana shook her head and forced herself to look away. Now that the Priest and the two vampires were being distracted by each other it was the perfect time to sneak back into her house and salvage her coffin. Stealthily she made her way out of the tree and towards the house. She would go in the back and use the trees for cover until she no longer could. Resolutely she made sure she didn't stop to watch the battle. It would be too easy to become mesmerized by the motions and lose her opportunity.

She managed to make it to her coffin without further issue. To her dismay she realized that while she could phase herself through walls, she wasn't strong enough to phase her coffin as well. This meant she had to do things the hard way. With a petulant sigh, she started dragging her coffin towards the stairs. It wasn't exactly heavy to her, but it was large and awkward. She moved slowly so as not to bang it along the walls. It was really her only material possession, so she treated it with care. Anything else could be easily replaced.

By the time she made it upstairs and out the back door, she could no longer hear the sounds of a fight. Closing her eyes she strained to hear anything that might tell her who had survived the encounter and where they might be. At first there was nothing, but then she heard footfalls. Moments later a thunk made her open her eyes. A shining blade was embedded in the top of her coffin. Diana groaned in annoyance. Looking past the blade she saw the Priest had been victorious.

"Forgive me father, for I have sinned...and will continue to sin," she murmured softly, head bowed slightly. Alexander gave her a vicious smile.

"Quite the pious abomination," he said with his booming brogue, throwing a handful of blades at Diana. She managed to dodge a few, but got a pair in her leg, making it harder to dodge further. She gave out a cry of pain and tried to pull one out, but her hand was burned for her efforts. Hissing softly, she gritted her teeth and forced herself to touch the searing metal long enough to pull the first bayonet out. It seemed almost a futile gesture. True, she had pulled one out, but as she reached for the second, the Priest threw another volley. Now her chest was full of blades and she whimpered at the pain. She couldn't even phase through them, the holiness of the blades was blocking her powers.

"There is no forgiveness for the likes of you," said Father Anderson, looming over the body of his fallen foe.

"Do you really believe that?" asked Diana, coughing up blood as she spoke.

"Aye, I do."

"Then your God is a cruel one."

"It's not God you have to worry about," shouted Anderson, kicking the downed vampire in the side, "it's the devil I will be sending you to!" He pulled out his swords now, crossing them over each other at a perpendicular angle, preparing to end his foe's unlife.

"I don't think so, Priest." It was the vampire in red that spoke. Clearly he had not been beaten after all. Diana didn't know if that was the good news or not. What did it matter who killed her, a fellow vampire or a Priest?

"Stubborn vampire," growled the Priest. He turned to face Alucard, leaving Diana a moment or two of respite for now. Cringing she crawled to take refuge behind her coffin while she worked on removing the painful pieces of metal from her body.


End file.
